The Pennsylvania Waste Industries Association (PWIA) says Governor Rendell's proposed $2.75 per ton increase in Pennsylvania trash taxes would cost Pennsylvania municipalities, businesses, and consumers nearly $41 million a year in higher costs for collection and disposal of trash.

If approved, the increase would push the state's trash taxes to $9 per ton.

Pennsylvanians disposed of 14.9 million tons of trash in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available. At that volume, an additional trash tax of $2.75 per ton would cost Pennsylvania consumers, businesses, and municipalities an extra $40,975,000 on top of what they're paying already for collection and disposal.